DEHESA  San Diego City Councilwoman Myrtle Cole is asking for immediate dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed over a controversial mailer her campaign distributed during a bitter 2013 race against Dwayne Crenshaw.

“The law gives political campaign mailers the highest protection under the First Amendment,” Cole said in documents filed this week in San Diego County Superior Court.

Cole defeated Crenshaw in the May 21 special election to replace Tony Young, who had resigned.

In his Jan. 2 defamation lawsuit, Crenshaw contends Cole’s campaign committee distributed untrue mailers to voters alleging drug use, which are to blame for his loss.

In her response, Cole noted the size of her election victory, 54 percent to 46 percent.

“In political terms, that eight-point spread does not represent a particularly close race,” she said in a personal declaration. “In my experience, a single campaign mailer sent out a week before election day would not account for an eight-point loss no matter that the mailer might say.”

Cole continued: “At the time I authorized its release I believed it to be true … I would never knowingly send out a campaign mailer containing falsehoods and did not do so on this occasion.”

Her original mailer suggested Crenshaw was mixed up with a friend’s illegal drug deal at a crack house 10 years earlier. Then a San Diego State University student, Crenshaw has denied the charges. A San Diego police officer also sided with Crenshaw, saying that Crenshaw was there to help his friend, who was being held against his will by dealers demanding payment.

Crenshaw’s lawsuit argues that Cole knew that the allegations were false but she persisted “with a reckless disregard of the truth.”

In her response, Cole said the investigating officer was “skeptical” so the mailer justifiably used a headline that stated his story was “questioned” by police.

“Crenshaw cannot meet his burden to show that the campaign mailer in question was false or that it was sent by Ms. Cole with actual malice,” her filing argues.

Cole contends she is also protected by state law that bars SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) actions designed to silence critics with the threat of lengthy and costly court battles.

Cole represents District 4, which includes the city’s southeastern neighborhoods of Bay Terraces, Emerald Hills, Skyline and Oak Park.